Automation environments typically include a quantity of machines monitored and controlled by human-machine interfaces. These human-machine interfaces may be configured to control the machines while displaying automation data related to the present or past states of the machines. The interfaces may vary widely in complexity as required by particular machines and automation environments.
Within any given industrial automation environment, human-machine interfaces may be configured to have a wide variety of ranges and scales. For example, human-machine interfaces may be configured in a hierarchical system where different interfaces display the environment at different scales. An initial human-machine interface may illustrate the overall environment, while other interfaces may drop down the hierarchy and illustrate individual systems or individual machines within a system.